钡餐 (bèi cān) — barium meal (medical imaging procedure for exam…

Definition

noun

barium meal (medical imaging procedure for examining the upper GI tract)

钡餐。
Yī shēng jiàn yì wǒ zuò bèi cān jiǎn chá.
The doctor suggested I get a barium meal exam.
钡餐，。
Zuò le bèi cān zhī hòu, bù néng mǎ shàng chī fàn.
After having a barium meal, you can't eat right away.
钡餐。
Tōng guò bèi cān kě yǐ kàn qīng wèi bù de qíng kuàng.
Through a barium meal, you can clearly see the condition of the stomach.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

钡, barium, and 餐, meal, describe a barium meal.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

𣦼食餐

Meaning part形符xíngfú

食食shíto eat; meal; food

Sound part声符shēngfú

𣦼

𣦼𣦼餐cān

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

餐 combines 食, meaning food or eating, with 𣦼 as the sound part; it originally meant “to swallow.”